Defence to buy two more of its workhorse C-17 transport planes

The RAAF will get two more of its much-loved workhorses – the C-17 transport planes that have lifted everything from ammunition to Kurds fighting the Islamic State terror group to food and water for cyclone-ravaged Vanuatu.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced on Friday morning the government will spend $1 billion to buy, equip and maintain two additional C-17s, taking the RAAF's fleet to eight.

The RAAF will get two more C-17 transport planes.Credit:AP

"The two additional C-17s will provide vital heavy airlift support to a range of regional and global coalition operations and greatly increase Australia's capacity to provide rapid and effective disaster rescue and relief and humanitarian aid," Mr Abbott said in a statement provided by his office.

The powerful Boeing C-17 Globemaster III has played a vital role in the Australian Defence Force's wide-ranging operations in the past 15 years. Former prime minister John Howard ordered the first purchases of the planes after the East Timor intervention showed the ADF did not have the necessary heavy-lift capabilities.

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Since then, they have become an integral part of the ADF. But with the high tempo of wars in the Middle East and regional humanitarian operations of recent years, Defence chiefs have long said they need more of the planes.

They have been used recently to transport relief supplies to Vanuatu in the wake of Cyclone Pam, to deliver military supplies to the Kurdish city of Erbil in Iraq, and to recover the bodies of victims of the MH-17 atrocity from the crash site in Ukraine.

They have also been used to deliver relief to victims of the Japanese tsunami, the Christchurch earthquake and the Queensland floods.

"Thanks to our aerial refuelers these aircraft will shortly be able to goanywhere in the world within 24 hours. We are a country with global interests and thanks to these aircraft we will have considerable global reach," Mr Abbott said.

The Prime Minister made the announcement at RAAF Base Amberley, where the C-17 fleet is based and which will receive a major upgrade as part of the $1 billion package.

He said $300 million of the money would be spent on the base upgrade, which will include a dedicated maintenance hangar, increased apron and taxi runway space.

He said the RAAF would get its new planes "within a short time frame", with the US providing the first one within six months of being ordered and the second plane within 10 months of the first.

With its four powerful engines, the C-17 can carry an M1 Abrams tank, three Blackhawk helicopters or one Chinook helicopter.

The C-17s usually work in partnership with their smaller, propeller-powered cousins, the C-130 Hercules transport planes.